After making Frankie's basket, Phoebe decided that she needed some too. One for her music and another for her growing collection of hair accessories. I changed the pattern slightly and cut the fabric 15 x 11 to fit CD's.
This one, made from Heather Ross' mermaid fabric, is my favorite. Speaking of which, did you see Heather Ross on Martha? She's just as cute as her fabric.
I got all excited when I discovered that Lotta Jansdotter's new book Simple Sewing for Baby was out. It's just what I expected - super cute projects, great photos, and wonderful illustrations.
I like how Lotta talks about the lack of cute baby patterns and not wanting everything to be pink and blue. I wish this book had come out a years ago when my kids were just wee things; however, there are still plenty of projects to make for toddlers.
After hearing all the buzz, I got Sewing Green. I also checked out Betz White's blog and am wondering why it took me so long. She's also doing a giveaway of her book if you don't have it yet.
I also got a great green kids' book - Green Crafts for Children. I love the projects - here are two fabric ones, but there are all sorts of crafty things do make. The book also helps kids along by using step-by-step pictures. A plus in my book when you're crafting with kids!
These felt beads remind me of a project I just saw on kleas but hers were felted wool.
Making glycerin soap is surprisingly easy to make - even with 56 Kindergarteners. We actually made ours for Mother's Day, but it's the kind of project that is good anytime of year.
Our favorite substitute and honorary kindergarten teacher, Ms. Tilson, makes soap in her spare time. She was more than happy to come by and help us. For our large group, we used a 10lb. tub of melt and pour glycerin soap. Ms. Tilson cut it into small bits and then popped in the microwave a minute or two at a time, stirring inbetween.
Once the soap was melted, an adult poured it into empty applesauce, yogurt, and other small containers that we saved from lunchtime. The containers should be coated with a layer of vaseline to ensure easy soap removal.
Here's where the kids had fun. They got to choose 4 cute beads to add to the soap. After Ms. Tilson added a few drops of peppermint essential oil, the soap was stirred to make everything come together. The soap needs to set overnight - it can be very hard to wait for the soap to be ready. Once ready, pop the soap out of the containers and go wash your hands!
There was a story in today's Commercial Appeal newspaper about a "sewing machine revival." 
You would have thought the kids have never eaten cupcakes before. We celebrated our last sewing club meeting with sewing cakes. The kids were giddy as they "sewed" their cupcakes with "licorice thread" (idea from Family Fun magazine - I couldn't find the project online, but it was in the May issue) and carefully placed candy buttons.
As part of a school auction item, my fellow Sewing Club teachers and I hosted a sewing themed birthday party for 10 kindergarteners. We gave the birthday girl a sewing apron just like the ones we wear. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but her cake was made to look like her. Each girl made 2 summertime projects - a sunglasses holder and headband. The whole thing was just too cute!
The sunglasses holder was an easy hand-sew project. For embellishments, we used stick-on flowers, hearts, sparkles, letters, etc. Trim was hot glued around the edges. Adults did the hot gluing, of course.
The best part was making the headbands with a machine! I used maya*made's tutorial for quick headbands. She's right - they are quick and were a perfect party project.
The favors were button candies from Bake it Pretty. As yummy as they are cute.
Happy Birthday, Meriwether!
After sewing the bugs closed, we wrote stories. I think I'll let Miller's story tell you more.
I love that my students love to sew.
I was surprised and pleased to receive this lovely award from Adventures in Mommydom. As I'm sure a lot of you bloggers do, you sometimes wonder who's reading, is anyone reading, and do they like it? So this is exciting for me!
A friend sent me the link to this incredibly cute wood sewing machine. I think that maybe my kids need one. It's so genius!
Where are the sewers? I love how this doll is turning out.
Here, you can see how we revamped the pennant project - cutting out tiny felt letters were hard for little hands, so we brought in foam sticky letters which made everyone happy.
I wonder what this project is going to be?
I have a feeling that someone is threading a needle. Maybe for a pillow?
It's the end of the year - kids are ready to move on and say Hi to summer, teachers are wrapping us loose ends and frantically assessing skills. I think I may be in denial, because we're getting ready to sew one last project. Perhaps it will also slow down time and allow us to be together peacefully. I'll let you know how it goes.
